Because books

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Reflecting on the importance of reading in light of the Lahore International Book Fair

I never feel worse about the lapses in my reading habit than I do when I start a new book. That might seem counterintuitive – surely the guilt should be way higher when I’m not reading as opposed to when I finally am? But it isn’t until I return to the world of books that I fully realize what I’ve been missing out on. Because as soon as that first spark of knowledge hits my brain, it becomes blindingly obvious that no amount of binge streaming or doomsurfing (and/or joyscrolling) can come close to the magic of delving into a good book. 

This realization is perhaps at its peak whenever the Lahore International Book Fair (LIBF) rolls around. Towards the end of every winter, the fine folks at the LIBF Trust join hands with the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association to organize a festival of books, much to the delight of my grey matter and the chagrin of my wallet.

The first thing you feel, as you enter the halls of the Expo Centre, is the absolute joy of being around people who share your interest and realize just how important books are, and who understand your enthusiasm at finding that obscure volume that you’ve been looking for, followed immediately by the anxiety that the said tome will now join that ever-growing TBR pile that is threatening to touch the ceiling. (#SoLittleTimeSoMuchToRead etc.)

Next on the agenda is the absolute dread that instantly destroys your soul as soon as you see the price labels. Ain’t no way you can afford that very long list of titles you had in mind when you merrily strolled into the building, blissfully unaware of your crushing poverty. The afternoon then becomes a test of your impulse control, as you decide what to take with you and what to leave behind, while frantically sending friends a virtual SOS to walk you off the ledge of overspending. (This year, a friend managed to get me to remove two books from my basket, and I felt very prudent about just purchasing … 13 books instead of 15. Because 15 is obviously too many while 13 is just fine! Also, the irony of buying a book on decluttering while basically adding a whole heap of things to a room that is already beginning to look like a hoarder’s nest was not lost on me.)

But that’s the LIBF in a nutshell: a joyous gathering of book enthusiasts that unites you with the books of your dreams, that aims to inspire reading but is mired by an economic reality that doesn’t exactly encourage the habit. Your best bet, of course, is to find that one stall – and there always seems to be one! – that is offering proper, significant discounts and hope they have the books you are looking for. Then begin reading, be reminded of what you’ve been missing out on, and this time try not to let go.

*****

This is why I’m broke
(i.e. the book haul)

So, I ended up buying way too many books at this year’s book fair. As usual.

The first book I picked is about … cats. Because obviously. I have yet to master the art of walking away from anything that has a picture of a cat on it. How does one do it? Such a mystery. It’s a gorgeous little hardcover with a velvety spine, although probably full of information that I already know, but … velvety spine, you guys!

I was next drawn to Stephen Fry’s Heroes, even though I haven’t read Mythos and have no idea if the book will make any sense to someone who can’t tell Artemis from Achilles. 

Then there is a beautiful inspirational colouring book (so recommended) and a kind of meh creativity drawing book (not recommended), and there are way too many self-help books because I’m totally not having a midlife crisis at all. 

The Will Smith autobiography just ended up in the pile because discount. 

My selection is, as always, fairly light on fiction. I chose a couple of random Grisham novels; I haven’t read one of his books in ages and thought I might give these a go. And I got Silo (irritatingly with an Apple TV+ series cover), just to reread the terrific ‘Wool’ short story. 

I purchased a Doctor Who paper doll book for a friend who loves the series, and a book about coffee art for a friend who loves coffee (but I have since decided he sucks so I might just end up keeping it).

I also went back for a couple more books and some stationary. (Have I ever actually used a highlighter? Unsure. But it sure is nice to own 8726439 of them.) I got two dictionaries for free, which I’m irrationally thrilled about. Oh and I bought way too many planners. I have suddenly gone from owning zero Filofaxes to having more Filofaxes than a normal human person can use in a lifetime. But hey, at least now I can maybe find a use for all those highlighters?

So, yeah … that’s the book haul. Now what exactly is the procedure for filing for bankruptcy?

*****

Notes from LIBF 2025

The 38th edition of the Lahore International Book Fair was held at the Expo Centre from 5 to 9 February this year. The annual event brought together sellers from across the country, giving book enthusiasts access to countless volumes from a variety of genres, all under one roof. But just how important is reading, and what can be done to inspire people to adopt this habit? We asked the participants for their take on the significance of reading and how to encourage this activity.

Mansoor Muhammad Siddiq
Generation Book Collection, Owner
We are from Karachi and for 35 years we had a shop at Khori Garden, an historical area that old readers must be familiar with. I entered the field of books at the age of 11. Around 25 years ago, it used to be like we would got two books and there would be 100 customers for them, and they would fight over the books. With the craze of IT since then, we were getting the impression that the craze of books will decrease, but after about 15 years, we feel like people are once again gravitating towards books.
The economic conditions of the country are such that everyone cannot afford books. Books seem even more expensive than gold. Out concept is to sell books at the cheapest price possible. Our price is even less than pirated editions; we are selling books worth PKR 6000 for only PKR 300. So customers are picking 20 books instead of one.
When we attend such exhibitions, all the publishers are under one roof which makes it easier for the customers, and it also encourages us that there are still people who read. We have noticed that girls are a lot more interested in reading than boys. It is up to the parents to inspire their children. There are many who collect pocket money all year round for the Karachi Expo event. So it seems like we are turning back towards books, and it is very heartening.
There are people who have entire libraries at home and are passionate about their collection, although this craze is ending because there often isn’t enough space to make libraries in houses anymore. We have a lot of stock that we can’t display here. The stalls are very expensive. The government should give us free of cost space, and we can pass that benefit on to the customers.

Francis Dsouza
Liberty Books, Senior Manager
We are trying to promote book reading in Pakistan – in Lahore and Karachi, everywhere – and we try our best to have book signings for people so that they get updated knowledge of books – the authors come and sign the book and give them a lecture about the book. We have activities running always, one or two activities every month. And we also try to promote in school exhibitions so that children get to buy some books, and we offer a good discount to them so that they are affordable for them. In our store, we also have a discounted section for customers who like to buy cheaper books, and we have a variety of books for everybody. We try our best to promote education and reading.
We should always keep in mind that children need to learn, and guide them to go towards reading. In the future it is good for them. It is [vital] to understand the importance of reading so that a person gets more educated and knows how to [improve their] life. So that’s why I think reading is always a good thing to promote.

Haroon Siddiqui
Siddiqui Rare and Antique Books, Owner
If we talk about books … like, this Lahore International Book Fair is taking place, it has its own importance – people can get all kinds of books on all kinds of topics in one place. The routine trend of books is declining these days. Mobiles and the Internet have made a huge impact. But the importance of books can never decline, because books don’t teach us wrong things – if mobiles are in our hands, then many wrong things appear in front of us and our children who should stay away from such things. You should bring youngsters towards books instead of mobiles. This will be better for you and your coming generations.
To inspire them, you should have events like this book fair, and you should take children to bookshops. I have seen that when parents buy books for their children, the kids insist that they want to hold their own books. If we hand them a mobile, then how will they be drawn towards books? So it is an appeal to everyone that they should inspire kids and bring them towards books.

Muhammad Hamza Gaziani
The Book Kingdom, Proprietor
Reading has always been a very important thing in everyone’s life – it gives you knowledge, it gives you experience. If, for instance, you are reading an autobiography, you’re going to get to know what the struggles of that person were and how he gained all that success, that knowledge. So reading helps you gain knowledge and [learn from] the experiences of people, which eventually helps you get successful in your life.
We can encourage people to read by doing more events like book fairs and by giving them the best prices we can so that every person can afford a book, and every person can buy a book so that they get encouraged in reading.

Muhammad Sajid Iqbal
Readings, Imports Manager
A lot of things have been added to our society that do give us some benefit but in the long run we can’t symbolize them in our lives. The biggest issue we are facing right now is that of social media. Our new generation is attracted to these new things, and book reading is taking a backseat. Book was always a very important element in the evolutionary process, and I think it still is and will remain. These things won’t end. In our childhood we saw that there was a wonderful trend of Eid cards, which was a lovely gesture in which people would interact with each other one way or another. Now that interaction has ended. Society has dispersed at that level. So it’s better that we should tell the new generation that social [media] interaction is important but it is not important enough that because of it we forget these traditions and things.

Asim Malik
Oxford University Press, Assistant Manager
Reading is the most valuable asset in this world. We at Oxford have been serving this [field] from the late 1800s, and we are well known in the publishing industry. I believe reading and knowledge is much more important than any other activity in this world because it’s healthy, [and it helps people grow].
[To inspire people to read] we must publish as much as we can. It is a digital world today, but I think the importance of physical books is still there and one should appreciate it. Rather than using digital tablets and gadgets, one should be promoting reading [books] as much as they can.

- By Sameen Amer

Us Magazine, The News International - 14th February, 2025 *

MMXXIV: rinse, repeat

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Brought to you by humankind’s determination to never learn from our mistakes

2024 took us on a rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs.

We fell in love with a pygmy hippo, marvelled at the physical prowess of our more athletic fellow humans (and the glorious ineptitude of a break-dancing Aussie), rejoiced when a certain “potato” and his brother reunited, and became way too invested in the beef between two rappers. 

And we also said goodbye to Bennifer 2.0 because love is clearly dead, thirsted over the lethal face card of a suspected killer because apparently that’s who we are now, and cursed the person who invented clackers while putting a hex on whoever made them popular again.

More than anything though, we, as a species, insisted on repeating our mistakes, much to the dismay of anyone with at least a single functioning braincell. Sure some long-term rulers were dethroned, but several familiar faces also mindbogglingly managed to return to power. 

2024 inherited the geopolitical conflicts of its predecessors and then proceeded to make them worse. The only thing higher than the cost of living was our tolerance for genocide.

The globe got warmer, armed conflicts got conflictier, our interests got selfisher. Basically, a lot of things just got, well, badder. 

As we bid adieu to 2024, here’s what went down in the last 12 months…

January
- Japan earthquake: The year got off to a rocky start when a 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook Japan on New Year’s Day, killing at least 462 people and injuring 1,344 others.
Later in the year, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan, killing 18 and injuring 1,100 in April. And a 7.3 magnitude quake in Vanuatu caused 14 deaths and 210 injuries as well as extensive damage in Port Vila in December.
- Iran-Pakistan tensions: In mid-January, Iran carried out a series of missile and drone strikes in Balochistan. Two days, later Pakistan conducted retaliatory airstrikes on Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province.

February
- Pakistani general election: Dynasties continued to rule Pakistan’s political musical chairs. The brother of that former PM gentleman became the Prime Minister; the former PM’s daughter became the chief minister of a province. That late PM lady’s widower assumed the Presidency; her son was appointed foreign minister, her daughter elected to the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, towards the end of the year, that cricketer PM gent’s latest wife tried to rally support after leaving prison while he remained incarcerated on multiple charges.
After no party secured a clear majority, Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan People's Party ended up forming a coalition government following the general election, with PML-N's Shahbaz Sharif serving as prime minister and PPP's Asif Ali Zardari as president.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan continued to be embroiled in legal issues and remained incarcerated on multiple charges. 

March
- European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act: Our artificial intelligence overlords allowed us the illusion of creating a regulatory framework governing AI with guardrails to protect humans, so that we wouldn’t figure out that reality is actually a simulation thought up by a bored machine that wanted to see what would happen if it built a world with sentient beings who were under the impression that they’re in control.
- Kate Middleton’s absence: Kate Middleton was either recovering from cosmetic surgery and/or domestic violence, having a secret ginger baby, growing out her bangs, playing a game of hide and seek that had gone out of hand, in a coma, dead, or all of the above, depending on who you asked on the interweb, earlier this year. In response to the Internet’s collective imagination going haywire, the British princess was forced to reveal that she was, in fact, undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, which she completed by September.

April
- Floods: Heavy rainfall in the Middle East severely impacted states in the Persian Gulf, causing flash flooding and at least 32 deaths.
Later in the month, floods in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul caused dozens of deaths and left thousands homeless. And floods in Kenya and Tanzania caused 488 deaths and displaced thousands.
2024 also saw devastating flooding in Central Europe (September) and Spain (October).
But it’s lucky that climate change is just a left-wing conspiracy, right?

May
- Solar storm: Nature put on a show, painting the sky with ethereal lights as a series of solar storms – among the most powerful to affect Earth in decades – produced auroras in more equatorial regions than usual.
Months later (in December), in a bid to help us better understand our star, the Parker Solar Probe flew too close to the Sun but emerged safe and sound from the scorching fly-by. Somewhere, Icarus tried to conceal his jealousy.

June
- Brat summer: The ladies of pop ruled the world in 2024. The summer belonged to one Charli XCX who turned the world lime green with her sixth album, the hyperpop sensation Brat, a cultural phenomenon propelled by a very memorable marketing campaign and not quite as memorable bops.
Meanwhile, Sabrina Carpenter dominated the airwaves while mumbling her way through super cringe lyrics because why not. Chappel Roan was equal parts riveting and grating. Gracie Abram was the nepo baby of the year. Billie Eilish continued Billie Eilishing. Reigning global empress Beyonce ventured into country music. And Taylor Swift made a zillion dollars with her Eras tour.
- Inside Out 2 release: Pixar continued its recent tradition of retreading old ground with sequels that aren’t quite as good as the originals in Inside Out 2, an on-the-nose dissection of anxiety wreaking havoc as puberty kicks in. Earning nearly US$1.7 billion at the global box office, the film ended up becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time for some reason.
The other billion-dollar earner of 2024 was July’s Deadpool & Wolverine, a string of cameos and Easter eggs held together by the barest of plots. The only Marvel release of the year amidst the MCU losing its cinematic stronghold, the movie made $1.3 billion … which is probably how much was spent on the incessant marketing campaign for Wicked that somehow seemed to go on for about a decade this year.
- Julian Assange release: After years of incarceration in the U.K. for the crime of exposing other people’s crimes, polarizing cyber outlaw and info leaker Julian Assange was released after negotiating a deal, pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. defence documents before returning to his native Australia.
- Hajj tragedy: 1,301 people – including at least 58 Pakistanis – died due to extreme heat during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, with temperatures soaring to over 50 degrees, hitting 51.8 °C at Masjid al-Haram at one point.
- T20 World Cup: The Indian cricket team was in stellar form at the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup, winning the tournament while also becoming the first team in history to win the title undefeated. South Africa were the runners-up. Meanwhile, in keeping with tradition, the Pakistani cricket team delivered yet another “why do we even bother” performance. Because of course.

July
- The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad: The country collectively learned that javelin is apparently an Olympic sport when Arshad Nadeem won Pakistan our first gold medal in over three decades in what we are hoping is something that actually happened and not just a collective dream we all had because if so please don’t wake us up, this is all too glorious! Arshad Nadeem, you absolute legend, you!
The games, however, very emphatically belonged to the U.S. and China – as usual – with the two countries winning 126 (40 gold, 44 silver, 42 bronze) and 91 (40 gold, 27 silver, 24 bronze) medals respectively.
Other memorable moments from Paris 2024 included Dominica, Saint Lucia, Cape Verde, Albania, and the Refugee Olympic Team winning their first-ever Olympic medals; France's podium sweep at the Men's BMX race; and whatever the hell it was that Raygun was trying to do. #Yikes
- Monsoon Revolution: The anti-quota, anti-fascist Students–People's uprising ultimately led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled Bangladesh. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge of the country as the chief adviser of the interim government.

August
- Mpox epidemic: In the continuing saga of microorganisms hating humans, the mpox outbreak was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization following the spread of the virus in African countries, begging the question: what did we ever do to upset germs, and can’t we all just get along?

September
- Diddy assault charges: The world was shocked by what Diddy did as Sean Combs joined the growing list of fallen entertainment moguls. The rapper faced numerous lawsuits regarding sexual misconduct, eventually leading to his arrest on the charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. The whole situation served yet another reminder – if one were still needed – to not equate art with the artist and not worship celebrities; talent and morals can – as we have seen all too often by now – be mutually exclusive.

October
- Gaza genocide: The deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict entered its second year, as history’s most documented genocide and domicide was basically live-streamed to the world. The war has claimed over 45,000 Palestinian lives in Gaza and displaced nearly all of the strip’s 2.3 million Palestinian population.
The world pretended to care while doing a whole lot of nothing about it.

November
- U.S. presidential election: The latest season of the world’s favourite reality show – American politics – brought the lolz with an electoral cycle so bizarre it had to have been scripted by the producers for ratings.
Just as acclaimed soothsayer Moo Deng predicted, Republican Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris – who replaced the aging Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee – to once again become the president of the U.S.
Childless cat ladies were not pleased by this development.
Trump was also convicted earlier in the year on 34 felony counts in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, survived two assassination attempts, and appointed the world’s richest and least favourite human, destroyer of Twitter Elon Musk, as the co-lead of the planned Department of Government Efficiency … because why wouldn’t a department for efficiency need TWO people in charge?

December
- Syrian civil war: Rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government, as well as his various statues, in the ongoing series of dictator statue destruction, serving yet another reminder that if you are a brutal despot, maybe not leave behind giant symbols of your oppression that people will one day ride through the streets like some sort of a bizarre parade float.
- United Healthcare CEO killing: The reaction to the murder of an insurance company head showed us that if you must kill someone, let it be the multimillionaire CEO of a health insurance company, because people clearly hate them and their passive murders more than they hate literal point-blank murder.
Oh and be super hot. That helps too.

And on that cheery note, we bid farewell to a ho-hum year. Here’s hoping the next one is kinder to everyone – from the Ukrainians and the Sudanese to cat ladies and One Direction fans – and humankind finally learns that love is a lot more rewarding than hate. 

Happy New Year, everyone!

- By Sameen Amer

Us Magazine, The News International - 3rd January, 2025 *